Are you focused on qualitative cyber risk management rather than quantitative?
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Many businesses can believe if they are controlling risk they are mitigating the cyber risk their business may face.
Really?
So when you mitigate the cyber risks in your business you are following this process:
- Identifying the potential business risks.
- Performing a risk assessment.
- Ranking them in order of priority based on potential severity.
- Tracking the risks.
- Monitoring progress once a mitigation plan is place.
All seems reasonable, right?
However, the reality in business is that what one person sees as a priority cyber risk, another terms as medium, or can even be accepted! Differing views can create ambiguity in different teams right down from management level.
Previous qualitative measures have always been based on what is likely or not to occur and the likely impact on a business. This allows so much open interpretation depending on your position. However, if someone was to say to you your business is about to be attacked costing you £3million pounds, then that kind of sharpens the mind, right?
Cyber risk quantification allows Monterey data driven facts to make those decisions for you, using sophisticated modelling techniques like Monte Carlo simulations that will calculate the VaR, or expected loss of any risk exposure.
This is providing many businesses with the right information to truly mitigate and control cyber risk by placing a value on this and allowing leaders to ascertain, with total transparency, where budgets should be placed.
Who gains the most from Cyber Risk Quantification?
In short – everyone.
CISO’s in particular obtain a deeper understanding of the cyber risk they are facing. Board Level leaders are able to receive the clarity that is so needed in understanding not only the biggest threats to their business, but how much value is assigned to that cyber risk.
We don’t need to tell you the cyber risks - you just need to see the benefits of cyber risk quantification
It’s out there already – the biggest threats to your business, but you cannot ignore the benefits of implementing cyber risk quantification.
More precise, clear decisions: No more assumptions as to what your businesses cyber risks are. With Cyber risk quantification, you will have total clarity as to your threats and where budget needs to be spent for maximum protection plans.
Minimise uncertainty: When cyber risk is clear, then you minimize the uncertainty. Everyone knows the risks, how they are ranked and what controls are needed to mitigate and control because data doesn’t lie!
Effectiveness in your risk mitigation: Your teams can begin to understand the effectiveness of their controls because cyber risk quantification will provide insight of the risk reduction through each control. If the risk is still high then you know you need more financial resource to reduce that risk. This way you are more proactive than reactive.
Demystifying cyber for your Boards: Boards are gaining more and more oversight on the cyber security of their business. However, jargon-filled presentations filled with hypothesis rather than data driven fact can “lose” the Board and lose momentum in focusing on the right cyber risks. Quantifying that risk makes it abundantly clear.
How can Continuous Controls monitoring support cyber risk quantification?
When modelling your business’ cyber risk, what are you basing those risks on?
You may have completed a full risk assessment, but do you have the level of assurance needed to know that these are the current risks? Are these point-in-time, outdated cyber risks by now?
Therefore, a cohesive cyber risk approach is needed. That’s where continuous controls monitoring can help and here’s how:
- Real time, continuous monitoring: It does what is says on the tin! Monitoring in real time so that your business can identify potential cyber risks – that way you are seeing in real time what you need to focus on with your quantification.
- Supporting cost effectiveness of your budgets: Cyber risk quantification allows you to understand in monetary terms where budget needs to be spent; however, by implementing CCM, you understand what the real threats are now. That not only helps budgetary conversations but also supports your team’s operational effectiveness and reduces your costs.
- Reporting accelerated: As CCM has bespoke quick reporting, you can define what you want to see and how it needs to be presented, from Board to operational level to drive those cyber risk quantification conversations.
- Eliminate manual processes: everything is automated with CCM, based on your controls and your frameworks. This speeds the process for cyber risk quantification so that you are implementing an action plan quickly, effectively and based on real-time up-to-date information.
Cyber risk quantification and continuous controls monitoring work hand in hand for effective, real-time identification of risk; it’s not a “nice to have”, it’s becoming increasingly a “need to have” element to your cyber security, risk and compliance posture.
To find out more about how we can support you with cyber resilience and visibility of your security, risk and compliance posture, then do reach out by clicking the green contact us tab.